17 Feb 2013

More haste, less weed

There's an alarming trend in my life where I sit down in front of the laptop for a 'quick look at my emails', I get distracted and suddenly a large chunk of my day has disappeared. You all know what I'm talking about. The weather over the weekend has been dry, mild and perfect for gardening ... then yesterday my washing machine decided it wasn't going to spin properly anymore. I can't be upset as it's done 10 years of sterling laundry servitude but it has meant going online to do some extensive research into a new best buy. (I never make "big" purchases without a lot of thinking beforehand!) I've just finalised the deal, a new machine will be delivered on Wednesday, but it's now lunchtime on Sunday and I'm going straight down into the garden, and sunshine, without further ado. My heart and soul are singing already.

Just before that though, two lovely things to tell: Naomi Schillinger of Outofmyshed blog has kindly sent me a copy of her new book 'Veg Street - Grow Your Own Community', published 7th March. What should have been a quick flick through on Friday evening almost made me late for my Girls Night Out; it's really that good, even for an gardening obsessive like me. I want to give it a proper review post in a day or two but (as I'm heading outdoors now) will say it's beautifully written, extremely well laid out, visually tempting and stuffed full of excellent advice. Have I whetted your appetite? More soon.

Secondly, my tickets for the RHS shows are booked and the first has arrived. I've taken Tuesday off work to pop down to the Horticultural Halls in Victoria, SW1 to visit the RHS Plant and Design Fair. It's my first time but I'm anticipating a good day out!

But for now my garden awaits and I have two cheap mini-cloches from Morrisons to sow lettuce and spinach under. Gotta go!

Oh, and the pink gloves in the photo? New weed and seed gloves bought from Capital Gardens online; they're a tad too big for my hands but the supplier hasn't responded to my calls or emails for an exchange or a return. I used London-based Capital Gardens as they have a garden centre up the road in Highgate which I thought would make life easier. Apparently not. After 2 weeks of one-sided communication, I'm going to give up and use Big Gloves. Naughty Capital Gardens. London readers have been warned.

11 comments:

Have fun on Tuesday. There are huge benefits of living where I do and I love the area so much but they are also times when I feel like I live in the sticks. (Well I guess I do.) I'd love to get to more events like this. I look forward to hearing about the day though. :) Frustrating when companies do that isn't it? We had a bad experience last weekend when we went out for a family meal. There were problems and no apologies so we sent an email and that has so far been ignored too. I would have expected better from the company in question. When you're in the service sector you really do have to serve. Anyway rant over. Hope you got a chance to do some gardening in the lovely sunshine. WW x

Had a wonderful day on Tuesday, thanks, Welly! The sun was shining, no cold winds, so I deferred going to the RHS show until the late afternoon and had a really productive day in the garden. Lovely! The show was very worthwhile and, despite my best intentions, I brought home armfuls of seeds and plants and garden goodies. Interestingly, since posting the above about my gloves, the company has been in touch with info about returning the gloves for a refund - the power of the internet? I can only hope!

They've since, belatedly, got in touch (see my reply to Welly, above). The RHS show was an hour or two well spent and great fun for an obsessive gardener like me. Now I have two things to post about, the book and the show!

Yes I have experienced that where did that morning go experience too Caro.Look forward to seeing your review of Naomi's book. I am trying to resist book buying this year but my temptation threshold is weak. I'm off to the RHS Show tomorrow too. Unfortunately a cheaper advance ticket to London will not see me arrive until afternoon. I went in 2006 but it was just called the RHS February show then I think. I'm really looking forward to seeing the displays of spring bulbs and the Pennard Plants stand :)

Yes, I'm lucky to have several raised beds (good drainage) and can warm the soil and sow under cover. It will be a while before I start serious sowing though, Janet, as I don't want leggy seedlings all over the house, before the weather is warm enough to plant them out!

Yes computers are good at eating our time! I was going to crochet tonight but have ended up reading lots of blogs. Which has actually been lots of fun. Great to see you're getting out in the garden. "Veg Street" looks great, must look out for a copy!

I had to miss the RHS Plant and Design Fair this week - life just got in the way. I've loved going previously and usually end up laden with a plant or two and at least one book from the nice secondhand stall at the back of the hall. Not sure what the gent's name is, but he's been there every time I've visited - and he has a fantastic selection of books on garden design, history, plants and gardeners.

It was my first time at this show and I absolutely loved it! I completely caved in and came away with bags filled with seeds and a wonderful edible shrub (Molinae Flambeau) plus other horticultural goodies - definitely not very healthy for my pursestrings! The bookseller was there again but I didn't leave myself enough time to browse through the bookstall - probably just as well!! Perhaps you're thinking of coming to the plant show in March?

Comments on my posts are much appreciated and help to build an online community of blog friends. Everyone is welcome! I love to discover new blogs so please leave a comment to introduce yourself.Caro x

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Hi there!

I started writing this blog as part of a group who were funded to grow food in the overgrown gardens of our homes, a 1930s estate near Hampstead Heath in North London. It's now more of a solo project but my vision is to create a beautiful community space for growing herbs, veg, fruit and flowers. I'm Caro; welcome to the Urban Veg Patch.